Police Scour Canada For Millionaire Murder Suspect
BUENA PARK, Calif. — Canadian authorities on Saturday intensified the manhunt for the millionaire reality TV star accused of murdering a former swimsuit model and stuffing her naked, mutilated body in a suitcase.
"We're leaving no stone unturned, but we have to play our cards close to our chest right now," said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Duncan Pound.
The search for Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a 32-year-old real estate developer and investor from Calgary, is centered around Vancouver and British Columbia, said Peter Van Loan, Canada's public safety minister.
The Mounted Police are leading the manhunt for Jenkins, who is suspected of strangling Jasmine Fiore and then reporting her missing the evening of Aug. 15 before fleeing.
Jenkins and Fiore met in Las Vegas in March and they married a few weeks later. The couple separated shortly afterward, but had reportedly recently reconciled.
Fiore's body was found in a trash bin in Buena Park, an Orange County city about 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Her teeth had been pulled out and her fingers cut off, apparently to impede her identification. Investigators used the serial numbers on her breast implants to identify her, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office.
Authorities believe Jenkins fled via car, boat and on foot to enter his native Canada.
Both Jenkins and Fiore were involved in the outer circles of the entertainment business.
Fiore was a model who worked mainly in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, doing gigs such as being bodypainted at parties, said Andrea Guevara, a friend who worked with her about five years ago coaching "margarita wrestling" teams – young women tussling each other in swimming pools of green-colored water.
Fiore's looks meant she was often invited to parties, some hosted by celebrities, but she had more than a pretty face and alluring figure, Guevara told The Associated Press in an interview.
"She was very intelligent and well spoken," Guevara said. "She had a positive energy and was always working. She didn't need to have a boyfriend. She was very happy being herself."
Fiore was also an aspiring actress. She had a bit part in a small 2008 horror science-fiction movie, "The Abandoned," according to the Internet Movie Database.
Jenkins was recently a contestant on VH1 reality show "Megan Wants a Millionaire," in which wealthy young men tried to win over a materialistic blonde. The network canceled the show Friday.
Jenkins said on the show that he possessed assets of $1 million to $2.5 million, said Tom Hession, chief inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service's regional fugitive task force.
Jenkins also was a participant in an as-yet-unaired competitive reality series, "I Love Money 3." A VH1 spokesman said no decision has been made on whether or not to run the show.
Before launching his TV career, Jenkins' resume posted on the professional networking site LinkedIn.com showed he earned a license to fly commercial airplanes and dabbled in several development enterprises and investments since graduating from college in 1999.
Those include Townscape Development Inc., a condo project in Calgary with his father, prominent architect Daniel Jenkins.
Jenkins' mother Nada Jenkins lives in a tony Vancouver condo. A neighbor, Bob Snowdon, said he had not seen her in several days. She did not answer her phone on Saturday.
Jenkins and Fiore's relationship reportedly turned violent in June.
Court records show Jenkins was charged in Clark County, Nev., with a misdemeanor count of "battery constituting domestic violence" for allegedly hitting Fiore.
It was not the first time he had been charged with assault. In Calgary, Jenkins was sentenced to 15 months probation in January 2007 on an assault charge.
After returning this summer from taping "I Love Money 3" in Mexico, Jenkins succeeded in winning back Fiore, who was living in a penthouse apartment in a modern new building in central Los Angeles.
Prosecutors said Jenkins and Fiore checked into a San Diego hotel on Aug. 13, and Jenkins checked out the next morning.
Fiore was not seen alive again.
In Calgary, Jenkins' former fiancee Paulina Chmielecka said she was engaged to him for 2 1/2 years and never saw a violent side.
"The guy was a great guy, as far as I knew he was very happy," she told the Canadian TV network CTV. "In our relationship, we had our fights – everyone does – but I would never say, 'Well, he could have murdered someone.' There's no way."
The manhunt has claimed widespread attention in Canada where some media carried an erroneous report late Friday that Jenkins had been escorted off a plane arriving at Toronto from Vancouver.
Regional police spokesman Adam Minnion said Saturday that the man resembled Jenkins but was released after tests confirmed he wasn't the suspect.
But the mistaken identity led two newspapers to publish erroneous reports.
"Fugitive murder suspect arrested in Toronto: Jenkins caught," declared the front page of the Calgary Herald's online edition.
A headline on the online front page of the Vancouver Province announced "Jenkins arrested in Toronto."
Both papers yanked the stories after police said the man who'd been questioned was not Jenkins.
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Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press Writers Jeremy Hainsworth in Vancouver and Christina Hoag, Raquel Maria Dillon, Derrik J. Lang and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles also contributed to this report.
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GILLIAN FLACCUS and ROB GILLIES | 08/23/09 06:16 AM |